USA – INDIANA Law and Practice Contributed by: Drew Soshnick, Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath, LLP
3.5 Media Access and Transparency In Indiana, the media and press are generally permitted to report on financial cases. Courts are open to the public. See Indiana Rule on Access to Court Records (“Ind R Acce Ct Rec”)4(A). However, if there are issues that would fall within the confidentiality of Indiana Code Section 5-14- 3-1 et seq and the Indiana Rules on Access to Court Records, adopted by the Indiana Supreme Court, courts may restrict access to proceedings and court documents. The statute addresses, among other things, trade secrets and confi - dential financial information (see Indiana Code Section 5-14-3-4(a)(4) and (5)). The act details mandatory confidentiality, discretionary confi - dentiality, and the process of maintaining confi - dentiality. There is a process for filing mandatory confidential information. There is a process for discretionary confidentiality that requires filing a notice and setting a hearing. If information is not determined to be confidential, the media and the press are rarely limited on what they can and cannot report. There are two primary methods of seeking ano - nymity of proceedings. Parties may file a pro - ceeding in any county in Indiana (subject to the other party requesting to move the case back to a more appropriate county) to try to limit ease of access. The “preferred venue” is generally the county where the parties reside. If a party files a divorce case in a non-preferred venue, the other party has the right to request that the case be transferred back to a county of preferred venue (see Indiana Trial Rule 75). Additionally, some counties and courts permit filings with ini - tials or partial initials as opposed to full names. That permission is within the discretion of the particular county and court and, with the advent of electronic filing, sometimes within the discre - tion of the electronic filing service. Certain types of children’s cases have limitations on access
tion. See Indiana Code Sections 31-17-2-8 and 21 (enumerating a non-exhaustive list of factors for courts to consider). Courts have the discretion to permit a child to speak to the judge in chambers (Indiana Code Section 31-17-2-9) or, for older children, to tes - tify on the witness stand. Those practices are largely discouraged. More often, a child’s coun - sellor, custody evaluator, guardian ad litem, or court-appointed special advocate presents the views of children. See Indiana Code Section 31-17-2-10 and 12 and Indiana Code Section 31-17-6-1 et seq. 3.4 ADR The Indiana Rules for Alternative Dispute Reso - lution, adopted by the Indiana Supreme Court, govern ADR. These rules provide for mediation, arbitration, mini-trials, summary jury trials, and private judges to help parties to resolve financial disputes. While not mandated in all instances, several Indiana counties, by local rule, require mediation before a final hearing. Also, if a party requests mediation, it is likely to be granted. If a party is non-compliant in participating in the media - tion process, courts can impose sanctions that include an award of attorney’s fees. Mediated agreements on children’s issues are generally enforceable, upon approval by courts, as an order of the court. Mediated agreements on financial issues are generally enforceable upon the parties signing the mediated agree - ment and are subsequently approved by courts. There is no statutory requirement for a party to engage in ADR.
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